Contextual Cues in Guiding Meaning in Qur’anic Dialogue: The Dialogue between Moses and the Righteous Servant as a Case Study

Abstract

This study examines the role of contextual cues in guiding meaning in Qur’anic dialogue, taking the dialogue between Moses and the Righteous Servant in Surat al-Kahf as a case study to explore how linguistic, dialogic, and situational cues interact in constructing meaning and determining its direction. It adopts an analytical approach, beginning with a theoretical grounding and an operational definition of contextual cues, followed by an analysis of the dialogic situations as interconnected semantic units. The analysis reveals that meaning is shaped by the contextual and epistemic information available to the recipient, that prior discourse may function as an active contextual frame of reference for subsequent discourse, and that the force of contextual cues varies as the communicative situation unfolds. It further demonstrates that context extends beyond determining the meanings of utterances and actions to regulating the dialogic relationship and its progression. The study concludes that meaning construction in dialogue is a dynamic, cumulative process in which discourse elements derive their semantic value from their interaction within context rather than from their meanings in isolation.